South Africa: Trials & Appeals & Compensation

A Constitutional Court decision has clarified a critical procedural question in South African administrative law: whether respondents can raise dispositive legal objections before producing the Rule 53 record in review proceedings. The ruling addresses the tension between an applicant's right to supplement their case after receiving the administrative record and a respondent's ability to challenge the review on purely legal grounds at an early stage.

On the demand side, McKinsey expects a four-fold to six-fold increase in demand for African data centre capacity (to 1.5 to 2.2 GW) by 2030, which presents an investment opportunity of between...

The Labour Appeal Court (LAC) accepted that the employer had a genuine commercial rationale for restructuring but still found the dismissals substantively unfair because the employer could not defend the selection of the employees retrenched.

Accusations of racism in the workplace are among the most sensitive and volatile issues employers and employees can face. In South Africa, where history, power and inequality remain deeply intertwined with working life, such allegations carry real emotional and legal weight.

Practitioners appearing in full court appeals have long worked on the assumption that Rule 49(13) of the Uniform Rules applies whenever an appeal is directed to the full court of a division of the High Court - regardless of who granted leave. That assumption has now been tested and found wanting. In Koopman v Minister of Police (963/2022) [2026] ZASCA 45 (7 April 2026), the Supreme Court of Appeal held that Rule 49(13) of the Uniform Rules does not apply where it is the SCA, rather than a High Court judge, that grants leave to appeal to the full court.

The Constitutional Court has delivered a useful judgment for municipalities, organs of state, and private service providers involved in outsourcing and insourcing arrangements.

Defamation consists of the wrongful and intentional publication of a defamatory statement concerning another.

The Labour Appeal Court (LAC) has confirmed that employees who deliberately refuse to comply with lawful and reasonable workplace instructions, and who participate in unauthorised gatherings on company premises, may be fairly dismissed for gross misconduct.

The Prevention of Organised Crime Act 121 of 1998 ("POCA") was enacted to tackle organised crime and cases of serious wrongdoing by individuals.